0 in the US, a group of people who decide if a person who has been charged with a crime should be given a trial in a law court --
1 law a group of people who decide whether a person who has been accused of a crime should be given a trial in court or should be released --
2 a group of people who decide if there is enough information to believe that a crime has been committed to begin a trial: --
Only one third of the members of the 1641 grand jury can be shown to have served previously.
The political stand taken by members of the grand jury in 1641 was not an isolated incident.
That is not to say that every land agent, any more than every large landowner, qualified for grand jury service.
Yet certain consistent developmental strands in grand jury membership are discernable.
Criminal prosecutions at the assizes almost invariably began by the submitting of bills of indictment, and supporting depositions, to the grand jury.
Several local officers, including clerks of the peace and gaolers, were appointed and paid by the grand jury.
When this failed, he asked a grand jury for relief, but none was offered.
Holding an important agency seems to have qualified a man for grand jury service from a much earlier date, however.